The fourth annual family-friendly community spelling bee will be held on Friday, October 22nd, from 7-9pm. This event will be at the Theater of the Performing Arts, which is located within the Learning Corridor at 359 Washington Street. It is free to watch teams scramble for correct answers.

It’s not free to play, however. It costs $500 to register a team; the registration deadline is September 30, 2010. This means you have a few weeks to decide whether to compete, study up, find better spellers than yourself to be on your team, and ask for help funding your registration. Team members can be high school age and up, and a word list will be made available so that spellers can study before humiliating themselves in public. A few past teams have included The Goode Spellerz (Asylum Hill Congregational
Church), Habeas Corpses (Law and Government Academy), and Ain’t mis-bee havin The Bee Sharps (Friends of Achieve Hartford!). Participants are encouraged to select names that will make the eyes roll.

Achieve Hartford! — a nonprofit organization that “has been established to monitor, support and be a catalyst for education reform and community involvement in the Hartford Public School District”– says that:

The Community Spelling Bee is our signature special fundraising event.  The funds raised from the Bee will go to support literacy-based resource programs that help students excel in reading.

For more information about the Spelling Bee or the organization, see the Achieve Hartford! website.